A lesson in ‘how to’ on a drill rig in Moranbah

Brisbane-based Lucas Drilling is showing the world how-to at its rig in Moranbah. How to surface to inseam drill, how to utilise geoscience, how to create team, how to best run a $4.5 million piece of kit and how to get value for a company that could be spending tens of thousands of dollars a day tapping CSG resources. Lucas is contracted to QPM Energy to provide Surface-to-inseam (SIS) directional drilling and vertical production wells for gas production. They’ve got Rig 118 on well pad TB118L2, which is to say near Grosvenor mine to the north of Moranbah in the northern Bowen Basin. The well taps into existing underground coal mining leases and captures coal seam gas, which both reduces the safety risk and exposure to the environment. The gas is pumped to Townsville by way of the Queensland Gas Pipeline for commercial use. But first they need to find the well via the seam. Think of being blindfolded and having to point to a single star in the night sky. In this case the ‘star’ is the 400mm diameter target well which is located underground at a distance of 2km. “This is an existing mine site and guidance data developed by geoscientists was extensive, so they are in good ground,” rig manager Trevor Pym said. Trevor Pym, Colin Bilston, James Cowley (Lucas Drilling) “We've got to be spot on to intersect that VPW (Vertical Production Well) and to create a production well path for the gas to flow,” he said. “We run a ranging probe into that VPW well bore. We send signal down through that, which talks to our survey tool that we've got in the drill bit, and it interprets where we are in proximity to the probe. "Our experienced directional drilling team can use the information from the probe proximity to determine our path so we can drill on to hit it." While the planning work takes months at the back-end, Mr Pym said there was a tactile and intuitive element to this type of drilling that only came with experience. “It's that intimate knowledge with the formation, understanding over years and years of experience and drilling, knowing how it feels … and just knowing that feeling of when something doesn't feel right or when you can get after it and push it a bit harder,” he said. “It's the penetration rate. It's how the rig feels in your feet. It's the amount of the weight that you've got on the bit. It's the amount of pressure that you're putting across the formation. “It's the fluid that's coming back. It's just understanding all those things and being prepared for the unknown. It's maintaining the Lucas Drilling TARP (Trigger Action Response Plan).” The ‘TARP’ is the company procedures incorporating both the science and art of drilling. “That's us guys with our gut feeling combined with the models and calculations put together by our drilling engineers that we've developed this for next generation of drillers.” Australia was leading the world in SIS drilling, Mr Pym said. “I've had directional drillers come over from America and jump on my rig and they can't believe what we are doing, how we're only 400m or shallower on a big angle, pushing pipe all the way out, two and a half, three kilometres. Collecting valuable geophysical data the entire way to help people better understand the resource. “They can't wrap their head around it. Our penetration rate while we're drilling inseam is up to 2m a minute. We're moving a metre every 30 seconds. It's quick, it's fast." The crew allowed themselves a pat on the back when they hit the VPW, Mr Pym said. Then it’s on to the next one.

A lesson in ‘how to’ on a drill rig in Moranbah

Industry Queensland

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